News

On 19 September, a study carried out by the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS), which has revealed differences in composition of foodstuffs produced by renowned manufacturers and bought in Lithuania and Germany, will be presented at the Ministry of Agriculture.
The laboratory analysis of 33 kinds of foodstuffs established that 23 out of them differed not only as regards their composition but also as regards their taste, colour or consistency. Minister for Agriculture Mr. Bronius Markauskas has referred to the situation like this as “unsavoury” and intends to work jointly with other countries, which had carried out similar analyses, and the European Commission to achieve a single food mark from the point of view of quality as well. “If a consumer buys a foodstuff, which is renown all over the European Union, it is natural that he/she expects to receive the same product from Vilnius to Lisbon and this has to be ensured by manufacturers”, – says Mr. B. Markauskas.
“In accordance with the survey carried out by the SFVS, as many as 8 persons out of 10 surveyed think that consumers in Lithuania are discriminated. I would like to emphasise that formally from the legal point of view all these products are in conformity with their composition and labelling requirements, however, the fact that differences were identified for nearly 70 per cent of the analysed products shows that this issue must be further analysed and the analyses must be expanded”, – says Mr. Darius Remeika, Director of the SFVS.
On 19 September 2017 (Tuesday), at 9 o’clock, mass media representatives are invited to journalist breakfast at the Ministry of Agriculture (Hall 293 on the first floor) where comprehensive results of the study will be presented. Minister for Agriculture Mr. Bronius Markauskas, Director of the SFVS Mr Darius Remeika and Deputy Head of the Food Department of the SFVS Ms Loreta Mačytė are going to participate.

The European Commission (EC) took initiative to define priority problems in the field of animal welfare on the international level and to take coordinated actions to solve them. This week, a group of experts representing organisations of the public and private sectors have gathered at the kick-off meeting of the EU Platform on Animal Welfare organised by the EC.
The Platform on Animal Welfare was established and approved in January this year and it is aimed at providing advisory services and assisting the EC with coordination of actions related to the implementation of legislation regulating animal welfare issues both within and beyond the EU.
The European Commissioner for health and food safety Vytenis Andriukaitis who opened the kick-off meeting underlined: “The activity of the Platform has to promote a dialogue among competent authorities, businesses, civil society and scientists, help address animal welfare issues within the context of the integrated food policy, combine the implementation of the One Health strategy with the issues of food waste and antimicrobial resistance“.
During the kick-off meeting, experts from different countries exchanged their insights into how this platform might contribute to the improvement of legal regulation of animal welfare, implementation of common welfare standards, promotion of public and business awareness. In the speakers‘ opinion, the issues of animal (in particular pig) welfare during transport and slaughter are of particular relevance today, therefore, those issues namely are going to be discussed in the near future.
One of the priorities of the Platform is to ensure uniform application of EU animal welfare standards in all the EU Member States. It was emphasised that the aim should be not the development of new legislation, but rather communication and development of a dialogue between the public and private sectors and sharing good practices. Furthermore, the Platform would not duplicate but rather combine activities of other stakeholders, promote different initiatives.
The Platform will regularly organise fora every half a year during which an overview of work done, new initiatives will be presented; it will promote discussions and help disseminate new practices.
Lithuania will be represented in the Platform by a specialist from the State Food and Veterinary Service and one independent scientific expert, which will be selected by the Commission into a group of ten independent external experts.

On 7–9 June, a delegation of 4 specialists from Georgia headed by Head of the Veterinary Department of the National Food Agency of this country Mr Lasha Avaliani was visiting the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS).
The colleagues from Georgia came to gain experience on the issues of animal identification and implementation of the traceability system. This project is supported by a development cooperation organisation in Switzerland and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and helps the Georgian Government to develop and implement its own national animal identification and traceability system.
The visitors were interested in the development of the database, the animal movement control carried out by the SFVS, the issues of data collection, processing, completing reports, development of the legal framework and financing problems. The role and participation of other stakeholders in the process of the development of the animal identification system was discussed with SFVS specialists. Issues related to slaughter of farm animals, their quarantine, analyses, export and other issues were discussed. SFVS competent specialists shared their experience in actions that are required for the implementation of integrated notification, training and other measures.
The delegation from Georgia will also visit the establishment UAB “Panevėžio veislininkystė“ engaged in livestock breeding, productivity control and insemination, Utena SFVS, the slaughterhouse that belong to the establishment UAB “Utenos mėsa“, a farm holding in Leliūnai village located in the same district rearing limousin bulls.
The system for labelling and registration of farm animals, which ensures the traceability of animals as regards animal communicable diseases and helps carrying out the prevention of communicable diseases and their control and ensures the administration of direct payments for farm animal keepers, has been operating since 2003.

This week, a delegation of five experts from the Food Safety Agency of Moldova (ANSA) headed by Dr. Gheorghe Gaberi, Director of the National Food Safety Agency of Moldova, is visiting the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS). These experts are visiting Lithuania under the EU Twinning Project “Support to the National Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Moldova“.
The visitors were introduced to the official animal health and welfare control carried out by the SFVS, the SFVS shared experience in the fields of collection, transportation, treatment, processing and storing of animal by-products (ABPs).
At the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute, the Moldovan exerts have looked into the issues of collection and analysis of animal origin laboratory samples and disposal of samples of carcasses and discovered dead animals.
The programme of the visit involves a visit to the Alanta Technology and Business School (Molėtai district), waste rendering plants UAB “Horeca sprendimai“ (Vilnius) and UAB “Biodegra“ (Širvintos district), UAB “Rietavo veterinarinė sanitarija“ and the plant manufacturing preserved pet food – UAB “Mars Lietuva“ where they are going to get working knowledge of the animal by-product handling system implemented in Lithuania.
“We are related to our colleagues from Moldova by several years of close cooperation. The National Food Safety Agency of Moldova was established in 2013 based on the experience acquired from the SFVS. As regards co-operation, the twinning project implemented jointly with the United Kingdom in 2010–2013 on the issues of food safety standards and consumer protection as well as the development cooperation projects that have been under implementation in this country in the past time need to be mentioned“, – said SFVS Director Mr Darius Remeika.
The handling of animal by-products is an acute issue for many countries. Delegations of specialists from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Ukraine and other countries learned from experience available at the SFVS.

This May is going to see a twofold anniversary of the membership of Lithuania in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). This is 85 years since the membership agreement was signed in 1932 and 25 years since Lithuania resumed its membership in 1992 as an independent state.
OIE is an international organisation with the membership of 180 countries worldwide responsible for the improvement of animal health and welfare as well as veterinary public health worldwide.
Nowadays, through the effects of globalisation, infectious diseases can often spread at lightning speed. 60 % of all the pathogens that effect humans are of animal origin. Effective surveillance, enabling early detection of these diseases at their source in animals, is therefore crucial so that they can be quickly controlled, thereby protecting animal and human populations.
Since its creation, one of the OIE’s historic missions has been to ensure transparency and improve knowledge of the global animal disease situation, including zoonoses. Animal health and welfare standards prepared and adopted by the OIE are recognised as reference by the World Trade Organisation ensuring safe world trade in animals and animal origin products that are in compliance with high animal welfare standards. The standards that are acknowledged worldwide enable more effective control of infectious animal diseases.
“This year marks 25 years since Lithuania resumed is full-fledged membership in this organisation. This is extremely important as now we have an opportunity to communicate and co-operate with veterinary officers from 180 countries as equal partners. This provides unique opportunities in negotiations on opening markets for food export, in representing Lithuania as a country, which successfully implements the global animal health, welfare and veterinary public health standards”, – says Mr Darius Remeika, Director of the State Food and Veterinary Service.
On 21–26 May this year, global actions are going to be discussed at the OIE General Session to be held in Paris, which have to be taken in order to reduce the risk of anti-microbial resistance, furthermore, the plan is to consider international programmes for animal health and development of livestock farming, disease control methods, safety problems faced in the process of international trade in animals and animal origin products.